


The Bonds That We Save

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 21:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12466276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: In which Peggy Carter meets Etta Candy.





	The Bonds That We Save

A secretary leads Peggy through a bewildering series of corridors that are clearly meant to confuse the unobservant; even she might have a difficult time finding her way back out. The woman finally knocks twice on an unmarked office door, and receives a cheery, "Come in," in response. The secretary deposits her in the office and shuts the door behind her, leaving Peggy to face a small, plump woman behind a massive, cluttered desk.

"Michael sent me," Peggy says to the woman behind the desk. "Michael Carter?"

The woman looks up from her typing and smiles kindly. "You must be Peggy. My condolences."

Peggy says, "Thank you," because she has manners, and this woman must have known Michael too, but she didn't come here for sympathy.

Something of her feelings must show on her face because the woman says in a more businesslike tone, "You were at Bletchley?"

Peggy gives her a bland smile and says nothing. 

"You can't answer that. I understand." She pushes back from her desk and tilts her head towards another door, this one behind her. "Well, come on, then. Mustn't keep them waiting."

They pass a room full of code-breakers, not so different from what Peggy left behind at Bletchley, and her guide is stopped repeatedly in the hallway--asked questions, handed files which she then passes on to someone else. It's not a word Peggy would normally use, but this woman bustles, and things happen around her. Possibly because of her. And Peggy still hasn't caught her name.

The woman finally stops in front of another office door. "They'll give you a proper interrogation, so if you need a cup of tea afterward, come back and see me."

Peggy tilts her head inquisitively. "And you are?"

The woman laughs, as if Peggy's just said something hilarious. "That'll teach me to think everyone knows who I am." She holds out a hand. "Etta Candy." Her hand is warm and her grip is firm, and Peggy remembers the name from stories that were whispered around the lunch room and Michael's occasional tales of undercover heroics. "You supported the mission to stop Dr. Maru during the Great War."

Etta purses her lips, and an odd, sad expression flits across her jolly face. But all she says is, "Yes." 

Peggy doesn't press. There are still many things above her clearance level, after all.

Peggy's interrogation goes well--she's officially signed up as a FANY, but is quickly assigned to F Section, where she finds herself parachuting into occupied France in order to aid the Resistance.

Michael was right. She's good at it, so good that she gets seconded to the Americans shortly after they join the war. The Strategic Scientific Reserve isn't as well-funded as the SOE, but once she's brought Dr. Erskine back from France, she's sure he'll help the Allies win the war.

She doesn't expect Steve Rogers--not the skinny, asthmatic version of him, nor the taller, more heavily muscled version. She's not prepared to love him or lose him, no matter what she'd told herself about getting involved with soldiers before she ever got sent on a mission. 

Peggy's a woman who breaks rules, and that includes the rules she's made for herself.

She's not a hypocrite--she demanded that Steve respect Barnes's choice, and she can do no less than respect his, even if sometimes it feels like he took her heart down into the ice with him. She doesn't have time to mourn, though; there's still so much work to do, and the SSR will continue to do it once the war is over, and Peggy with them. She'll just be doing it from New York.

She's packing up the London office when Etta Candy appears in the doorway.

"I hear you've had some adventures," she says, as if no time has passed since the last time they met.

"Yes," Peggy replies. "Rather more than I expected, to be honest."

"That's always the way," Etta says, her sympathy tinged with a knowingness that keeps Peggy's hackles from rising. "Do you have time for a cuppa?"

"Of course."

Once again, Etta leads her through a warren of offices, and Peggy lets her, though this is a maze she could navigate with her eyes closed.

The tea shop is familiar--the same drab, shabby place Peggy's grabbed tea or lunch over the years when she couldn't stand staring at the familiar walls and corridors of the office any longer.

The stunning woman seated at the corner table is new, though, at least to Peggy. She'd remember if she'd seen her before.

Etta takes the seat next to the woman and gestures for Peggy to sit down across the table. "Peggy, I'd like to introduce you to Diana Prince. Diana, this is Peggy Carter."

"Etta's told me all about you," Diana says, offering a well-manicured hand for Peggy to shake. Her grip is firm and her palm callused. Her English is lightly accented--Greek, or perhaps Portuguese.

"Funny, she hasn't mentioned you." Peggy smiles to soften the sting of her words just a touch.

"When we first met, you asked about the Dr. Maru mission," Etta says. "Diana was instrumental in foiling the doctor's plans." 

"I see." 

A waitress brings a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits they haven't ordered to the table, and while she pours, Peggy feels herself being weighed and measured by Diana's keen gaze. She tries to recall what little she's heard over the years about that operation, and inhales sharply when she remembers. 

"You _do_ see," Diana says.

"Yes, I suppose I do."

Etta squeezes Diana's hand and then reaches across the table to squeeze Peggy's, and Peggy's throat tightens at the sympathy, and the knowledge that she is not alone.

"They are gone," Diana says, "but there is still so much work to do. We can honor their legacy."

Warmth floods Peggy's chest and she nods. "And forge our own."

Diana smiles, wide and bright despite the lingering sorrow in her eyes. "Yes."

"I knew you would get on swimmingly," Etta says with a smug grin.

"Yes, yes," Peggy replies with a wry grin of her own. "I suppose this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

**Author's Note:**

> Title from OneRepublic. And Peggy's obviously quoting "Casablanca" at the end there.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] The Bonds That We Save](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13778193) by [knight_tracer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knight_tracer/pseuds/knight_tracer)




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